


Under the Starlight

by FalconInFlight35



Series: Travels Throughout Galar [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27483310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalconInFlight35/pseuds/FalconInFlight35
Summary: At the journey's end, wounds are healed and promises are made to be kept. And when those promises shine bright, embracing us in their starlight, they'll know that the adventure will never end.
Series: Travels Throughout Galar [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954741
Kudos: 5





	Under the Starlight

A few things ran through Blake's mind as he looked up at the night sky. The first was that he was glad he finally had time to relax after how much had happened the past couple of days and the park in Wyndon was the best place to be right now. With all the running around, it hardly seemed like he had any time to just stop and catch his breath. The second was that he still couldn't believe he was really Champion. It came down to the wire, but he really dethroned the unbeatable champion. He wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened just yesterday.

The third was-

"Ow! Easy with the ointment, Sapph!"

Sapphire glanced up at him with a VERY unamused look. The Cinderace shook her head and went back to his arm, holding a bottle of medicine to help treat the burns that laced across his skin.

Blake set the bandages he was holding in his other hand down on the bench and sighed, "...You're not still mad at me about what happened, are you?"

"Cin, Cini ace," she replied with a frown.

The third was what happened on top of Hammerlocke Stadium a few days ago. Even now, Blake had a hard time believing all of that actually happened. First, Chairman Rose interrupts Blake's battle against Leon mere moments before it began to say he was bringing about the Darkest Day, then he and Hop hightail it to Slumbering Weald to awaken Zacian and Zamazenta, _then_ they end up fighting the personification of the single greatest threat to the entire region as wild Pokemon are dynamaxed all across the Wild Area.

It certainly sounded like a fever dream or a really crazy action movie.

Blake winced again as Sapphire continued rubbing his burns, "What was I supposed to do, let you get hit by that...laser beam, or whatever it was?"

"Cinderace, ace cin," she said bluntly, almost looking offended. She had taken harder hits from Leon's Charizard during their battle with him. To her, an energy blast wasn't something to be worried about.

Blake rubbed his head. That thing, Eternatus was what Rose called it, was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Dark, twisted...it almost looked like it was being corrupted by the very energy it produced, only to be taken to another level once it morphed into that dynamaxed...snake...thing.

Sapphire took the gauze from Blake and started to wrap his arm while he just watched her, "So, you're upset because...you think I didn't trust you enough to take a hit from that attack?"

"Cini! Ace, cinderace!" she snapped back, pointing at his wound.

"But I'm alright! The doctors even said as long as I keep putting the medicine on it, it'll go away by next week!"

Sapphire huffed and finished wrapping his arm in silence.

This was one of those moments where Blake wish he knew what was going through his Cinderace's head. Eternatus had been captured, Rose was behind bars, and they were the newly-crowned champions. What was there to be upset about? Sure, it would've been nice to not have the burns in the first place, but the doctors said it wasn't serious, though Sapphire definitely didn't seem to see it that way. Heck, even while he was in the hospital, Sapphire seemed just as frustrated then as she was now. It reminded him of how she was as a Raboot, much to his dismay.

She finished tying the last knot around his arm, letting him finally stuff all the medicine into his bag. He couldn't help but shoot glances at her as she plopped down away from him, but Sapphire seemed to be staring off into the distance. It almost seemed like she was more troubled than upset. Blake sighed, already fearing the awkward conversation that was about to happen but he knew that it needed to happen.

Slowly, he scooted closer to her, "Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

Sapphire simply frowned at him before looking away.

"You know I'm not gonna know what's wrong if you don't talk to me."

"Cind ace cini..."

"I know that," he said, aware of his lack of understanding Pokémon-speech, "But it's obvious that what I did is bothering you a lot."

In the middle of his battle with Eternatus, the creature fired a "Dynamax Cannon", as his Rotom later named it, right at Sapphire as she was trying to catch a second wind. At that moment, the whole world around Blake slowed to a stop. He had no idea just how powerful that blast was and he didn't want to find out what would happen to his partner if it connected. His body moved all on its own without him even realizing until he had already tackled Sapphire out of the way. The blast was still able to barely catch him, singeing his arm and parts of his jacket.

"Are you upset that I pushed you out of the way?" he asked.

Sapphire looked up at him. Her frown was still present, but it seemed to ease up as she shook her head, "...Cin."

 _Okay, that's a start_ , he thought to himself, "Is it because...I got hurt?"

"C-Cinder…" she faltered.

Blake wanted to reassure her that he wasn't a stranger to getting hurt. He was sure he could easily have become a doctor with how much he needed to heal both his and his team's injuries, but she still seemed to have more to say.

Her ears drooped forward as she pointed at his now-wrapped arm, "Cin cinderace, ace cini cinder?"

Blake ran a hand over the bandages and smiled sheepishly at her, hoping to placate her worry, "The burns don't hurt much anymore. If it meant getting you out of the way, I'll happily deal with them."

"Cinderace!"

Blake flinched at Sapphire's sudden anger. He had never seen her this upset about...anything. It didn't help that he was starting to get irritated too, "Well, what do you want me to say, 'I'm sorry for being reckless and saving our lives'?"

"Cin!" she fumed, thrusting a hand on his chest, "Ace cinder cini cinderace!"

Blake opened his mouth to respond but stopped before the words could pour out of him. As the empty park around them fell back into peaceful silence, his temper cooled when he spotted something glistening off of Sapphire's fur. It even seemed to come from her eyes.

Were those...tears?

The Cinderace seemed to notice just as Blake did, turning away from him and wiping her paws over her eyes.

Blake's brow furrowed. He knew he had acted recklessly. He wasn't denying that, but if he hadn't, she could've been seriously hurt. Even though they were able to take the beast down, its destructive power was something that still made Blake shiver. If just barely getting nicked gave him these burns, what would have happened if he...

...

...Oh.

Like a shot to the heart, it all made sense now; why she was so upset about his injury. If he had been any slower getting them out of the way, he would've...

A sniffle from the Striker Pokémon ripped him out of his thoughts. Neither of them had moved from their spots and Sapphire seemed to be trying (and failing) to pull herself together. With a deep breath, he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, slowly turning until they were face-to-face again. The fur around her eyes had already become damp while more tears flowed down.

The two of them stared at each other before Blake finally lowered his gaze to the bench, "...I'm sorry."

Sapphire's eyes widened in surprise as he continued.

"I just didn't know what was going to happen if you got hit by that cannon. I didn't mean to...almost get myself killed trying to save you."

Blake trailed his hand down her arm before taking hold of her paw and placing it back on his chest. The faint beating of his heart reverberated down Sapphire's arm as he smiled tenderly at her, "But it's okay. I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Cini..." Sapphire mewled before quickly wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into the crook of his neck.

Blake held her tight, letting her release all of the stress she had been carrying since the battle. He mentally kicked himself for not making the connection earlier, but it was better late than never.

For Sapphire, that moment had haunted her for the whole week. She could focus on fighting the champion when the time came, but even then there were moments where she slipped up that almost cost them the entire battle.

He was lucky that he only got away with a minor burn, but it was still such a stupid thing to do! What if he got more than just a burn? What if he ended up losing a limb? What if he...? That thought alone scared her the most. Knowing that he was mere inches from death was something that she even started having nightmares about. For him to not realize that she very nearly lost the most important person in her life, it was infuriating at times how dense he could be.

"I'm sorry, Sapph. I'm really, really sorry. I promise I'll be more careful..." Blake whispered over and over in her ear as he rubbed her back.

The two of them stayed that way for a while. Even as Sapphire's sniffles finally ceased and the faint wind replaced it, neither of them moved. After everything, it was nice to finally have some alone time, away from all the crowds and cameras. Plus, having a fire-type curled around you made the bench very comfortable.

Sapphire broke away from the hug rather begrudgingly, wiping away the last few tears that sneaked into her fur. Blake smiled, "Feeling better?"

She nodded, "Ace."

"Good, cause I don't know about you, but…" he started to say before being cut off by a heavy yawn, "...but that."

Sapphire giggled and hopped to her feet, already feeling lighter from the stress being lifted off her shoulders. Blake stood up with her and together, they left the park and ambled down the street towards Wyndon Stadium and off towards the riverside shortcut that would bring them back to the hotel.

Tonight was a much quieter night than it had been the previous day. Blake and Sapphire still ran into some fans that were eager to get an autograph, but it was much better than the claustrophobic crowds that had piled around him. The time spent celebrating their victory was nothing short of tiring to Blake. He was never a people-person and crowds were starting to become his greatest fear. He knew how to socialize properly, but he wasn't Leon. It helped that Sapphire bailed him out plenty of times, something that he thanked her so much for.

As they wandered down the boardwalk, his thoughts ended up drifting to Hop. Becoming champion was Hop's dream and Blake ended up crushing it. It would have been a disservice to throw the battle and let Hop win, but he so-badly wanted to see Hop succeed. He had everything going for him after all! Pushing past his defeat against Bede, dealing with his self-doubt...Hop should've been champion. Blake didn't see himself as the "champion" type. He went through this whole thing to see new places, not crush his friend's dreams! He was thankful when Hop pulled him aside before he fought Leon and told him that he didn't hold anything against him, but Blake could still feel the sting of victory even as he heard Hop cheering for him.

He was shaken out of his reverie when Saphhire bounded forward and leaned over the guardrail, gazing into the water to watch the Pokémon that swam by. Blake couldn't help but smile at the sight of his Cinderace. Ever since that night on the hill back in Postwick, the bond they shared had become as strong as a Steelix. Memories of points in their journey floated into his mind as he continued to watch her.

Choosing each other back at Hop's house, their first steps into the Wild Area, taking a nap in the grass of Turffield, seeing her evolve into a Raboot after beating Kabu, the night by the campfire where they reconciled, seeing her finally evolve into a Cinderace during their fight with Piers, cuddling up with each other during the harsh snowstorms on Route 10...

He couldn't have asked for a better partner.

"Cinderace?"

Blake finally snapped out of his staring by Sapphire suddenly being in front of his face, much to her amusement.

"Hehe, sorry. I was just...reminicising."

The fire-type smiled back at him as he faced the water and looked out over the city, "We've sure been through a lot, huh?"

"Ace cinder."

He glanced over at her and, unable to help himself, quickly wrapped her in another hug. She adapted quickly, returning the gesture as the lights from the city and the stars from above shined down on them.

"I'm glad you're here with me, Sapph."

"Cini ace cin."

A thought popped into his head at that moment. He pulled out his Rotom phone and switched to the camera, "Usually I don't take a lot of pictures of myself, but wanna help make an exception?"

"Ace!"

After waiting for Rotom to get set up, all it took was one snap of the camera to perfectly immortalize the moment. The two of them looked at the picture with joy in their hearts.

Setting off back down the boardwalk again, Blake looked over at Sapphire, "So, now that we're champions, whaddya think we should do next? I did hear of a guy in Wedgehurst offering some tickets to places called the 'Isle of Armor' and 'Crown Tundra'. Sound like fun?"

"Cind! Cin ace!" she cheered.

Blake laughed with her. They may be champions, but their adventure was far from over. Even under starlight, their path shined brighter than ever before.


End file.
